


of friendship and felines

by jdphoenix



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Reveal, mlfandomweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7770163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His identity being found out, that was bound to happen sometime, but it's just Adrien's black cat luck that it's by the one person he knows with a blog dedicated to all things Ladybug.</p>
            </blockquote>





	of friendship and felines

**Author's Note:**

> Written for mlcreators' fandom week over on tumblr.

Chat leans in, gets lost in those baby blues. Maybe this will be the time. Maybe this time she’ll _finally_ kiss him and he’ll _remember_ it and it’ll be _amazing_ and she’ll fall in love with him and they’ll defeat Hawk Moth and they’ll get married and have little babybugs and kittens and-

“Chat,” Ladybug says, sounding amused. At least he still makes her laugh?

“Yes?” he asks, keeping close just in case she’s gonna change her mind.

She smiles. “Your claws.”

He worries for half a second that maybe he’s touched when he shouldn’t have, but then the beeping penetrates his love-addled brain. “Oh.”

He’s off like a shot, running for the far end of the roof. “Take care, m’lady!” he yells as he spins in midair. She waves and is that? Yes! She _giggles_  just as he loses sight of her while he falls into the alley below! Victory!

He’s so caught up in it that he forgets that he’s about to de-transform and only remembers when it happens a split-second before he hits the ground. A pile of stinky trash bags breaks his fall and Plagg’s out in a heartbeat, digging in hopes of some Camembert.

“Well this is fitting,” Adrien says, meeting the eyes of the stray perched on top of the overflowing dumpster. Used to monsters and magic all over Paris by now, she only blinks at him before licking a paw in a clear sign of dismissal.

Not wanting to touch more of the garbage than he has to, Adrien flips his legs over his head and lands, if he does say so himself, with perfect form on the asphalt.

“Come on, Plagg,” he says, “I’ll buy you something fresh on the way home.” He turns for the street, trusting Plagg’s common sense will have him following soon enough, only to stop before he’s made it two steps. “Oh no.”

“What?” Plagg’s at his side in a second. “Is it another- oh _no_.”

Alya is standing on the sidewalk, holding her cell phone, and grinning like a maniac.

 

\------

 

Half an hour later they’re in the park. It took that long to stop Alya’s mantra of “Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir” and to get Plagg some cheese. And now they’re on a park bench and Adrien is considering the wisdom of just stealing his classmate’s phone and throwing it in the nearby fountain.

“Alya,” he says - she’s been grinning and staring straight ahead ever since she stopped with the creepy chanting. “I think we need to talk, don’t you?”

“Oh my _gosh_ , yes!” She bursts, rounding on him. Plagg nearly falls off the back of the bench in his surprise, but the Camembert acts as a counterweight, keeping him in place. “Have you always had superpowers? Why did you start protecting the city? What is that thing? Do you know who Ladybug is? Can you tell _me_ who Ladybug is?”

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Adrien holds up his hands. “I got superpowers the same day I started school. It was the right thing to do. That’s Plagg, he comes with the powers.”

“Hi!” Plagg says and then goes right on eating. It’s more than Adrien thought he’d do, so he’ll take it.

“And even if I did know who Ladybug is, I wouldn’t tell you.”

Alya’s smile fades into a somber expression and she faces front again. “Right. Of course. Totally understandable.”

Her cell phone is still clutched in her hand and Adrien’s fingers itch to take it from her. There’s a voice in his head - it sound a lot like Plagg, actually - that tells him to just _do it_ already. He knows he shouldn’t but … he _really_ wants to.

“Does anyone else know?” Alya asks finally.

Adrien tries - and fails - not to look guilty. “Uh, no. No one except you and Plagg.”

She shoots Plagg a smile and he hums happily over the attention. “So not even your dad? How do you do the superhero thing when he’s so overprotective?”

He sighs and slouches so his head can rest on the back of the bench while he watches the clouds go by. “Carefully.”

She makes a strangled sort of noise and, when he throws her a concerned look, says, “Sorry. It’s just … Chat Noir doesn’t strike me as ‘ _careful_.’”

“I can be careful!” He sits up straight and ignores Plagg’s laughter.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sure! I mean, you hide your identity right?” Alya still looks like she’s laughing. “I only mean, he- or you, I guess, have a tendency to leap without looking. Your day-saving style is a little … chaotic.”

Well, his power is destruction so he can’t argue with that.

“Which I always kind of figured was because you were trying to impress Ladybug. Are you? I mean, are you and Ladybug…”

“I _wish_. I mean, have you seen her? She’s-”

“Amazing. Yeah, I know.”

“Did you see her today? Fighting that dragon? It was-” He whistles. No matter how many times she saves the day, she always finds some way to make it completely  _new_.

“Yeah,” Alya says - and doesn’t sound as excited as he’d expect. She runs the _Ladyblog_ , shouldn’t she be eager to talk about her idol? “But you’re not together?”

“No. Why?”

“Oh, no reason!” she says quickly. “It’s just I’d always assumed Chat and Ladybug were together and now I know they’re not - _you’re_ not. You’re still 100% free as a bird.”

“Free as a cat,” Adrien says quickly.

Alya’s smile - or maybe it’s more of a wince - crinkles her eyes. “Yeah. That. You’re still on the market.”

“I guess?” He shoots Plagg a glance and yep, he’s looking just as confused as Adrien feels. Of all the things he expected from this conversation, a talk about his love life wasn’t one of them.

Alya’s back to looking straight ahead and she’s got her game face on. He wonders if she’s planning on how she’s gonna roll out the reveal of his identity.

“Uh, Alya?” he asks shakily.

“Yeah?” She doesn’t even look his way.

“I was kind of hoping you might be willing to - if you want - just for the safety of Paris - and my family - and all our friends - not tell the world who I am?”

She blinks and then smiles. “Oh, Agreste.” She tosses him her phone. “I deleted that while you were buying your shadow here some cheese. I was never gonna tell.”

He looks through her videos and, sure enough, the most recent one is of Ladybug cleansing the Akuma. “Really?” He can’t help the awe in his voice.

“Of course not!” She snatches her phone from his limp hands and stands. “What are friends for? And, speaking of, as your friend I think I should tell you, Ladybug just doesn’t seem right for you. I mean, if she can’t tell how _amazing_ you are by now, girl is _blind as a bat_. They’d probably call her Batgirl if it wasn’t already taken. So, I am just saying, maybe you should focus on other girls? Just try it? Maybe you’ll find someone who already sees you for the great guy you are.”

Adrien and Plagg exchange confused looks. “Like Chloe?”

Alya freezes and then smacks her forehead. “Why do I bother?” she mutters. She shakes her head as she turns away. “I’m gonna upload this footage of the fight, but don’t think you’re getting off easy, Agreste! I want a full interview! We’ll talk at school tomorrow!”

Plagg floats into Adrien’s vision. “Was she seriously suggesting you date Chloe?”

Adrien shrugs. “All I know is she’s not outing me and that’s all I care about.” Anything else she said is just too weird to consider. _Especially_ that Chloe thing.

 


End file.
